NanoPay, the Toronto-based loyalty and payment solutions provider, has agreed to acquire MintChip, the digital currency platform developed by the Royal Canadian Mint.

MintChip was developed by the RCM as a way to securely send money via text message, email, or other digital communication platforms. It functions like a digital wallet, allowing users to upload money to MintChip the same way they would a pre-paid credit card and then drawing down on the account as they make digital payments, all without the need to have the system access banking and credit card accounts for every transaction, thus making it more secure than some other payment platforms. It is expected to launch commercially in the next few weeks.

It may seem like it will be tough for a product like this to compete in the open market given the presence of dominant players like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet, however a made-in-Canada solution for digital payments may prove to be attractive to the Canadian banks that in the past have helped foster other Canadian payment systems like Interac.